MULE DEER

1. Male deer grow new antlers each year.

2. They can jump high and swim well, but water is rarely used as a way for them to escape a predator.

3. Mountain lions are the primary predator for deer in our area.  

4. Deer have great hearing and a fantastic sense of smell. Their eyesight is not so great, especially during the daytime. They are believed to be colorblind and see objects at a lower resolution than we do. They are unable to detect motionless ojbects but can see the smallest of movement up to 600 meters away. 

5. From September through November you may spot a few male deer fighting.  This is just a way to show off and try to get the female deer's attention.  

Baby deer are usually born in late May through June.  Each mama deer usually only has one baby, but occasionally has twins.  

The baby, or fawn, can stand within minutes of being born and can walk within a few hours.  They drink their mother milk for the first three months and then begin to eat solid food.

Females stay with thier mothers for up to two years.  Males usually leave after only one year.  

The mother will sometimes leave the fawn when she goes foraging for food.  If you ever see a baby fawn alone, more than likely, the mother is nearby and waiting for you to leave so she can return. 

Mule deer eat vegetation they find along the open space.  They eat grass, weeds, acorns, and flowers.  Like a cow, they spend a lot of their day chewing cud. That is because they spit it back up several times and chew it again in order to get all of the nutrients they can from the plants. 

Deer enjoy forested and brushy areas of mountains, canyons, and foothills.  That describes all of Conejo Valley which would explain why our family has seen them on several of our hikes.  We have seen them walking along the hillsides of the 101. Occasionally we have seen one in Wildwood.  We have seen them at a distance on the trails in Rancho Sierra Vista. We have seen a few on the Whole Acess Trail.  

Fun Fact: We recently spotted an entire herd along the trail near the Chumash Museum, which is across the street from Sapwi Trails.  
"Sapwi" is a Chumash word for "house of deer".  It is also the name of one of the Chumash Villages in the Conejo Valley.  The reason it may have been given that name could be because of the great number of deer in the area. 
They are usually most active at dusk and dawn.      

Have you ever observed a deer as it detects a sound?   It instantly turns its head and points its big muscular ears like satellite dishes in the direction of the noise. It's believed that a deer's sense of hearing is so fine-tuned that it can determine precisely how far away a sound is when made.

Here's how you can tap into your own "Deer Ears": 

Make the letter ‘C’ out of your hand and cup it behind your ear. Now your ear is BIG like a deer, and can capture sound so much better! Do the same with your other hand, and cup it behind your other ear. Now you can hear everything in front of you! Rotate your hands so the cups are facing behind you. Now you can hear everything behind you, too! What do you hear closest to you?  Furthest from you?  To your left and right, in front and behind you? What's the loudest sound that you hear? What's the quietest sound?  The softest sound?  And the hardest one?

Mule deer can reach speeds of up to 45 miles per hour while running, and are capable of changing directions in a single bound.  If a deer detects a predator, they will escape by stotting.  Stotting is an unusual run which involves jumpin high off the ground with legs stiff and all feet in the air.  It is said to have two purposes: telling the predator that it now lacks the element of surprise, and signaling to other deer in the area that there is a predetor nearby.